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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Pumpkin Biscotti

It is no secret that I love all things pumpkin. I know that you can make pumpkin foods all year round, but I prefer to save it for the fall months as it brings back good memories. Last year I made candy cane biscotti and loved them, so this year I opted for some pumpkin biscotti that I found over on The Way the Cookie Crumbles. I decided to dip mine in semi sweet chocolate and cover with Halloween Sprinkles, and I am so glad that I did. I think that without the chocolate I would not enjoy these as much, I think that they need a little more of a pumpkin flavor. However, with the chocolate they are perfectly delicious!

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices into a large bowl.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a rough stir to generally incorporate the ingredients, the dough will be crumbly.

3. Flour your hands and a clean kitchen surface and lightly knead the dough. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Form the dough into a large log, roughly about 15-20 inches by 6-7 inches. The loaves should be relatively flat, only about ½ inch high. Bake for 22-30 minutes at 350ºF, until the center is firm to the touch. (Feel free to also form two smaller logs for cute two-bite biscotti; just cut the baking time to 18-24 minutes.)

4. Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes and then using a serrated knife cut into 1 inch wide pieces. Turn the oven to 300ºF and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.

Melt chocolate wafers or chips in a double boiler and dip the bottoms in melted chocolate. Dip into a generous bowl of sprinkles and place on parchment paper to dry.To add chocolate swirls to top, place melted chocolate in a ziplock bag and cut off a corer, squeeze onto biscotti.